Why You Can’t Trust Online Reviews

“People who write online reviews are more likely to buy things in unusual sizes, make returns, be married, have more children, be younger and less wealthy, and have graduate degrees than the average consumer, according to Dr. Simester’s 2014 study. Online reviewers are also 50 percent more likely to shop sales, and they buy four times more products.”

It turns out the problems with online reviews go way beyond the fact that many of them are fake.

The New York Times breaks down why you can’t trust online reviews including that people are more likely to leave positive reviews than negative ones, we’re wired to pay more attention to negative ones than positive ones, and it’s a very specific type of consumer who takes the time to post a review in the first place which skews the results.